As the water level of the Chobe River subsides during the dry season (June to October), the fish become relatively speaking easier to catch and the river and surrounds then teems with fishing birds like the Pied Kingfisher.

Unfortunately this little fellow was unsuccessful and was returning to perch to try again!

This image was captured on the Chobe River, near Kasane, northern Botswana, Southern Africa.

The Goliath heron, also known as the giant heron, is a very large wading bird of the heron family Ardeidae. It is found in sub-Saharan Africa, with smaller numbers in Southwest and South Asia. This is the world’s largest heron.

The Goliath heron is very aquatic, even by heron standards, rarely venturing far from a water source and preferring to fly along waterways rather than move over land. Important habitats can include lakes, swamps, mangrove wetlands, reefs with few cool water, sometimes river deltas. It typically is found in shallows, though can be observed near deep water over dense water vegetation. Goliath herons can even be found in small watering holes.

This image was captured on the Chobe River, near Kasane, northern Botswana, Southern Africa.

I have converted my post-processing workflow to Adobe Lightroom and currently am re-editing some old images. In this process I have unearthed some “worthy” images. This shot of an immature Martial Eagle is just such an image.

The Martial Eagle is a large eagle found in open and semi-open habitats of sub-Saharan Africa. It is the only member of the genus Polemaetus. It can be found in most of sub-Saharan Africa, wherever food is abundant and the environment favourable. It is never common, but greater population densities do exist in southern Africa, especially in Zimbabwe and South Africa. Generally, these birds are more abundant in protected areas such as Kruger National Park and Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park in South Africa, or Etosha National Park in Namibia.

The adult’s plumage consists of dark grey-brown coloration on the upperparts, head and upper chest, with slightly lighter edging to these feathers. The body underparts are white with blackish-brown spotting. The underwing coverts are brown, with pale flight feathers being streaked with black. The female is usually larger and more spotted than the male. The immature is paler above, often whitish on the head and chest, and has less spotted underparts. It reaches adult plumage in its seventh year.

This image was captured on the Chobe River, near Kasane, northern Botswana, Southern Africa.

This is a vulture in the family Accipitridae, which also includes eagles, kites, buzzards and hawks. It is closely related to the European Griffon.The White-backed Vulture is a typical vulture, with only down feathers on the head and neck, very broad wings and short tail feathers. It has a white neck ruff. The adult’s whitish back contrasts with the otherwise dark plumage. Juveniles are largely dark.Like other vultures it is a scavenger, feeding mostly from carcasses of animals which it finds by soaring over savannah.

This image was captured on the Chobe River, near Kasane, northern Botswana, Southern Africa.

This is a large species of eagle that is found throughout sub-Saharan Africa wherever large bodies of open water occur that have an abundant food supply. It is the national bird of Zimbabwe and Zambia and South Sudan. Its haunting call has become the iconic sound of the African bush.

This image was captured on the Chobe River, near Kasane, northern Botswana, Southern Africa.

The leopard is one of the five “big cats” in the genus Panthera. It is a member of the Felidae family with a wide range in some parts of sub-Saharan Africa, West Asia, the Middle East, South and Southeast Asia to Siberia.